Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso said he expected the early season battle to be contested between four teams after completing his first practice session with new team Ferrari.

"From what we could see, the indications we got from testing have been confirmed, with four teams that you could describe as favourites, although there could yet be a few surprises, Force India for example," said Alonso. "The new track is not bad: it is fun, even if there are a few too many bumps which I hadn't spotted when I inspected it by bicycle."

Team-mate Felipe Massa said he was happy with the performance of his Ferrari but agreed with Alonso that Ferrari will face stiff competition from several other teams.

"We worked a lot on finding the right balance on the car in race trim and on comparing the two types of tyre, running with various fuel levels, although never going for a quick time," added Massa. "I am quite happy with what we have seen today, even if it is difficult to get an accurate picture of how competitive we are compared to the others. We will definitely face stiff competition from many teams, but we were preparing as well as possible for Sunday's race and tomorrow morning, we will work on qualifying. I've got a bit of a temperature today, but I feel 100% for this start to the season."